


Cheescake Cafe

by subtextismygod



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, just some fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 11:22:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17579912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subtextismygod/pseuds/subtextismygod
Summary: Steve Rodgers is a retired superhero. Each month, the old Avengers gather at a cheesecake cafe near to Steve’s apartment. But what happens when Bucky Barnes crashes their monthly meetup?





	Cheescake Cafe

Steve Rodgers, formerly Captain America, formerly the First Avenger, liked his new life. He had a nice, comfy apartment overlooking the river, with a small balcony and a nice cheesecake cafe two blocks down. Every month, he would meet his ex-avenging friends to share a cheesecake and have cups of coffee and tea all around.

Thor had been the first to leave, returning to rebuild Asgard. Bruce moved to Norway with Dr. Selvig to find a way to cure him of the Hulk. Clint still worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. but Nat had quit the fighting life for good. She lived across the hall from Steve.

The New Avengers had formed after the Avengers had broken up. Wanda, Rhodes, Peter, Scott, and Shuri made up the new team. Thor’s friend Valkyrie had helped them out with a few out-of-Earth missions.

Tony stayed at Avengers Tower to supervise and train the New Avengers. Steve visited once in a while, but his friendship with Stark hadn’t fully mended since Russia. Bucky still lived in Wakanda as the White Wolf, fighting alongside T’Challa when needed.

Their meetup was going to be in about half an hour, but Steve and Nat were there early. Tony had texted and said he was going to be there, and Clint was on his way from S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters in Washington D.C. They were already on their second cheesecake, given to them free by the waitress who insisted that they had saved the world enough times for a free cheesecake. Or two.

Steve stirred some cream to his coffee thoughtfully. “She’s cute,” Nat remarked. He laughed.

“Come on, Nat. I don’t need a date. Who would want to date a hundred-year-old guy?” The truth of the matter was that Steve really only wanted to date one person: James Buchanan Barnes. Nat knew, of course.

“What about another hundred-year-old guy with a metal arm?” She winked.

“Oh, be quiet. Anyway, she seems to like you more than me.” He had noticed the waitress’ glances to Nat. She shrugged.

“I know.” Of course she did. The waitress came back over to refill their coffees. Steve took the second to read the name on her tag. Allie. “Thanks, cutie,” Nat told the waitress, whose face turned an unnatural shade of raspberry red before ducking away.

“You’ve scared her away.” Steve pointed out.

“Don’t worry, she’ll be back.” The door chimed and whispers and gasps rose as Tony walked in.

Steve nodded at his old friend as he sat down, barely looking at him. Nat, on the other hand, gave him a large hug. “How’d Pepper like that bear?” She asked.

“She… let’s just say that there’s not much room in the atrium. How have you both been?” Tony said.

“Good,” both Steve and Nat said at the same time.

“I’ll be right back,” Nat said before sliding off her chair and walking over to the waitress.

Tony shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I wanted to talk to you about what happened in that old HYDRA base.”

“I— Bucky’s my friend. I’ve known him forever. You were— are— my friend, too, Tony,” Stave decided to say.

“I know. I just spent so much time thinking they were in a wreck, then it just was so much— I shouldn’t make excuses,” Tony ran his fingers through his hair.

“Neither of us should. I’m sorry about everything. Truly.”

“It’s nice to know that Captain America doesn’t lie,” Tony joked.

“I’m not Cap anymore,” Steve said.

“Take the compliment, Rodgers.” He took a breath. “I’m sorry, too.” He extended a hand. Steve shook it. He trusted Iron Man. And he was willing to take that step to make everything right again. “Come to the Tower tomorrow. I could use your help on a training exercise. 11:00?”

”Consider it a plan,” Steve replied. To be honest, he missed his life as an Avenger just a little bit. But the New Avengers did their job well, and he was proud to have them carry on the legacy.

Nat strolled over, a slip of paper in her hand. “Well done, boys,” she commented. She never missed a thing. The bell chimed once more and Clint walked in. His hair was damp from the drizzle that had started outside, and he walked over to the table.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nat said, pulling him into a hug. Of all the ex-Avengers, Nat missed Clint the most. The Hawk had been her closest friend, she had told Steve. Her salvation, even, when she was in Russia. The Red Room. While Bruce had lover her dearly, he knew she never reciprocated it.

The four superheroes sat together, recounting missions and telling old stories like war veterans. In a way, Steve supposed they were. “How’s the young blood?” Steve asked, jokingly labeling the New Avengers as the young blood.

“Wanda has the most experience, she’s crushing the rest of them during drills. Shuri barely makes it to training, she’s always tinkering with my old suits. Peter…” Tony smiled when he thought about the spiderling. He was something of a father-figure to Peter, and Spider-Man meant a lot to him. “Peter and the rest are good.”

“Fury just had me in Russia cleaning up an old HYDRA base,” Clint mentioned. “We found some kind of stone that seems relatively similar to an Infinity Stone in an energy test we ran.”

Tony wrung his hands. “Send it to the tower, I’ll have Shuri run some tests on it.”

“Will do, Stark.”

For the third time on that rainy day, the doorbell chimed. The glass door swung open and the shop went silent. A pin could have dropped and everyone would have heard it. The newcomer glanced around and ran a gloved hand through his dark hair. He walked to the table where the Avengers were sitting.

“Mind if I pull up a chair?”

Steve stared in wonder and disbelief as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier, sat down right next to him.


End file.
